Innis & Gunn tasting

Innis & Gunn has met
with a divided reception among beer enthusiasts. Some really like it,
some think it's not bad, and some hate it. Personally, I quite like
it, and it's one of the very few beers that are oak-aged and fairly
widely distributed. So when Dr. Jekyll's
pub in Oslo announced a tasting with Dougal Sharp, the creator of
Innis & Gunn, I signed up.

Working out which brewery is behind the beer is a bit tricky. The
bottles describe the producer of the beer as as "Innis & Gunn
Brewing Company," but there no such physical brewery. Instead,
Belhaven, a Scottish brewery, brews the beer under contract. So that
kind of makes Innis & Gunn a contract brewer (or "phantom brewer",
as the Danes would call it), but one that only contracts a single
brewery, at least at the moment.

The Innis & Gunn process is described as "unique", which may
sound odd (and like a tired cliché), given that oak-aged beers are not
that unusual any more. However, the process they use is actually
different from what's usual. They buy oak casks that have been used to
age bourbon in the US, ship them in pieces to Scotland, and reassemble
them there. This means that the barrels are actually dry when they are
used to age Innis & Gunn, and that none of the alcohol in the beer
comes from the whisky. As far as I know they are the only ones to use
this exact procedure.

Dougal said that each cask produces a quite different beer, which
is similar to what other brewers have been saying about oak-aged
beers. In fact, quite a few casks would produce vinegary sour stuff,
which they would throw away. To get a somewhat consistent result they
then blend the beer from the different casks after the aging. They
also dilute the aged beer a bit, which they claim releases more
flavour, in much the same way that adding water to whisky is said to
do.

Dougal described the base beer (that is, the beer that goes into
the casks) as "quite bland". The idea is that they want most of the
flavour to come from the casks themselves, and only some from the
beer. This is also different from the usual approach with oak-aged
beer, where the aging is used more to wear off the edges of a sharp
and powerful base beer than to really impart a major flavour to the
beer. Mikkeller's Calvados
beer is about the only exception to that I can recall.

I quite like the Innis & Gunn Original (at 6.6%), even though
it's pretty mild, and tastes primarily of perfumy vanilla, which feels
a bit artificial, partly because it's so prominent and distinct. This
is the bit that many people hate, some claiming that it must come from
vanilla essence. Whisky enthusiasts, on the other hand, claim it's
perfectly reasonable for a bourbon barrel to produce this taste, and
Dougal denied there was any artificial flavouring in the beer. There's
not just vanilla in the aroma, though, but also quite a bit of nuts,
caramelly malts, and smoky hints. I rated this at 3.8 out of 5.0, but
that's an old rating, and probably too high. Today I estimate I'd give
it 3.2 or thereabouts.

Since the base beer is so bland, it means that with different casks
one could get quite different beers, and this is what Innis & Gunn
have started doing. So at the tasting we were offered four different
beers, starting with the new Innis & Gunn Blonde. This was paler
than the Original and slightly lower in alcohol at 6%. It's milder
than the Original and quite subdued. Still a bit of perfumy vanilla,
but also floral hops and paper. In general I thought this one had too
little flavour, and gave it 3.1 out of 5.0.

We then moved on to the Original, which I've already described, and
after that to Innis & Gunn Canadian Cask (7.1%). For this they
used Canadian whisky barrels, and it's interesting how different from
the previous two beers it was. The vanilla and the artificial feel
were just about gone, and now earthy floral chocolate predominates,
with roasty dusty fruity notes. It was very harmonic and easy to
drink, and I liked this one more than the previous two, rating it at
3.3 out of 5.0.

The best they saved for last: Innis & Gunn Rum Cask (7.4%).
This one had some vanilla in the aroma, but the taste was actually
slightly acidic and vinegary from the casks. The acid was quite mild,
though, and the sweetness was still there, in an unusual combination I
quite liked. The basic taste was floral metallic and earthy. This one
I gave 3.5 out of 5.0, making it the clear winner of the four.

Dougal said that not only did each barrel produce a different beer,
and some of them were much better than the others, and they were kind
of sad about having to blend these in with the rest. In the future
they were thinking of doing some special single-barrel bottlings of
Innis & Gunn, so that people could try these beers separately from
the main bottling. I found that to be an intriguing idea, and would
quite like to try it, especially if I could compare two different
casks to each other.

At Olympen

Overall, it was definitely worth attending the tasting, and hearing
the story behind the beer (which you can get on their web site) directly
from the source of course added to the interest. I should have had a
picture of the Innis & Gunn beers, but stupidly did not do it
before the tasting started, and once it got under way I was much too
busy taking notes to even think about it. After the tasting we headed
over to Olympen for more beer, so the final
photo is from there instead.

I wanted to make the 2K series quite long,
with various lists of beers selected by different criteria, but I
never managed to find any selections that inspired me enough to
actually write the pieces, so we'll round off with the
obvious one instead

I think that Innis & Gunn is quite good. I don't like this perfumy vanilla taste, though. I would recommend Caledonian. Some people say that it's a bit plain, but still I like it very much, even though the taste is not that complicated.

scott young - 2009-09-12 18:10:21

i'm am inface related to dougal gunn sharp. he is my uncle in law.

Kirk DeRuyck - 2009-12-05 16:02:01

Well let me put it to you straight. I am a Canadian where strong beers are common place. We have a wide variety of flavors up here. Only the best are imported from other countries and Innis and Gunn is the most expensive of them. I tried this beer about a year and a half ago and have not cared for any other since. The incredible blend of vanilla and toffee flavor is simply mouth watering. I have recommended this beer to many and have never heard a sour reaction. It is very smooth and without question the best beer on the planet, irregardless of the actual brewery. True it loses its lustre after drinking it for awhile, but it is still worth the price. Up here there is no other beer that is even slightly similar. I would not rank this beer out of 5 because it is easily a ten. I am not a beer specialist but in a continent as big as Europe, I was ready to give up on finding a different taste.(Excpet Guinness - which I don't consider to be a beer at all). These two guys deserve my thanks. As for you, what beer is ranked as your highest? I would love to compare Innis and Gunn to that!

Lars Marius - 2009-12-06 11:07:34

Kirk: Personally I find that the normal Innis & Gunn is a bit too dominated by the vanilla, and that the vanilla is a bit flat and one-dimensional. If it had just a little more complexity I think this would be a much better beer than what it is. It's by no means a bad beer, but I much prefer all the other Innis & Gunn variants over the standard.

I was given an Innis and Gunn about 2 years ago and have since spent about $5,500,00 on it. Enough said

Steve Johnson - 2010-06-23 06:14:52

Innis & Gunn is a fine beer

Don Diamond - 2010-08-18 14:11:42

Where can I purchase some of this beer in the United States. I live in California, but am trying to purchase some to send to a friend in Colorado.

Thanks

Jon Vanasselt - 2011-03-04 18:15:33

I am also Canadian. It is true - this is quite possibly the finest imported beer every to grace our great country. It is nothing short of delicious in every aspect. This beer costs twice the amount of traditional Canadian fine beers and is worth every bit of it - ENJOY!

Terry Sawchuk - 2011-03-14 00:15:39

I agree with Kirk,you give me a list of 5 beers that come close Innis and Gunn beers in the same range Lars...You rate this beer a 3.5?... Come off it man!

Gord - 2011-04-08 23:29:21

Just finishing a bottle of original now and agree it is a fine beer. I think 3.5 is fair for this distinct flavor. I am going now to compare to something from the Canadian brewer Unibroue, perhaps unfair given the very different nature of these beers, but will enjoy a close race. Cheers.